ABRSM Grade I

We finally resumed Renee's violin lesson today and I quickly reminded Ms Mok to bring the 'result slip'/certificate over(just in case 'cos I don't wish to wait further, heee) - ya, she's offered to come over again as her brother's not free to look after her dog, :).

From her practices, I... in fact, even her teachers, have thought that she'd get the highest marks on the 3rd piece but the results surprised me :

1st piece - 24 /30

2nd piece - 27/30

3rd piece - 25/30

This part of the examiner's markings helped us understand the grading system better(now we know why Ms Tan said that she's very very close to a D) :

"High Merit"

The Certification

Artwork Display

She simply loves to do artwork and this time, she did them by herself 'cos she can't wait for me to be free to do them with her, heee...

A 'New' Buddy

Some of you might remember reading that since Renee's fall, her classmates had been giving her stickers...and in return, she decided to give them hers too.

However, she's brought the whole booklet to school for a few days straight and 1 day, she came back telling that a girl, named 'C' has been taking away her 'nicer' stickers and when she finally told her to choose other stickers instead, the girl wasn't happy and didn't want to befriend her anymore...

End last week, she told me that her friend 'N' didn't want to befriend her as well 'cos of 'C' was kinda like N's close friend in class. Being a soft-hearted girl, she still phoned N up but that girl didn't want to pick up despite her mom telling her who the caller was(Renee heard it over the phone). Renee was upset, naturally and my heart went to her... Yesterday, she approached N again at school but the latter ignored her, awww... In such situation, I have no choice but told her to just let her friends be, besides, she's got another nice friend M whom she's been pretty close to recently.

She gave M our home number but as I've predicted, she doesn't know how to make a phone call and thus, Renee hadn't got a call from her til now, lolz. However, when Renee asked her about it the next day, she said she'll get someone to teach her, :). Today, M gave her a drawing and she was sooo excited that she wanted to embark on a drawing of her own immediately when she got home, to give in return, :).

M's

Renee's, for her friend

Results on Renee's Violin ABRSM Exam

For more than a month now, Renee hasn't had any violin lesson since her grading exam and I hadn't been able to contact her teacher (whom was supposedly to be back from her honeymoon yesterday) today - 'invalid number' indicated, huh?...

During the week whilst we were at my FIL's wake, I still managed to communicate with her via sms-es and she had informed me that although Renee had not got a Distinction as they've expected, she's graded Merit, :).

The week after, since Renee's had the fall and as her wedding's very near, I told her that we might just as well resume the lessons upon her return. She then suggested Tuesday, which is today, but when I reminded her that our lessons are always on Wednesdays, she didn't reply... However, before her suggestion, she'd told me that Renee's got a score of 126(without any further explanation) but when I offered to go pick the certification from her, she said that she'd only be back home late literally every night and offered to pass it to us instead, via our letterbox - which, didn't happen, haiz...

After trying to contact her(phoned even her home, sms-ed) in vain but needing to find out what's happening, I was left with no choice but to contact Ms Tan(the piano accompaniment), to check if Ms Mok has contacted/arranged with her any lessons this week. Sadly, Ms Tan replied that she's only in contact with her during exam period but she asked after Renee. I briefly informed her of Renee's fall + her results and she was sooo nice to help us understand better - here's part of her message : "Merit is the second best level. But she is very very close to a distinction.........". Boy, aren't we supposed to be getting such explanation from her teacher? All the while, I've been wondering what does the score represent? If only I could have got hold of the cert earlier, then we might have known(or even guessed) how her score stands against the total, haiz('cos Ms Mok did mention before, that there will be remarks on the result slip/certifcation).

Anyway, I hope the teacher would at least call me tomorrow about her lesson(s) 'cos now I really wish to get hold of the cert ASAP!

The Face Wash

Hoping to guide Renee on the concept of 'breath holding'/'breathing via the mouth' when swimming(or whenever one's face come into contact with water for the matter), I've been guiding her to wash her face under running water, using the shower head.

She hadn't been receptive to this til recently and today(the 2nd time we've successfully tried this style of face-washing), she told me that she'd like to wash her face herself - I would normally place the shower head onto a holder placed lower for this purpose. She has already been looking rather comical whenever we do the face splashes but this, was a total cheer! lolz. I couldn't help laughing til I was 'sound-less' and the way she asked "what's so funny?" was, hahaha... Classic.

*Wish I could take a video of this but she's much older now, hmmm...

Artwork(Drawing) Display

It hadn't really occurred to me to put these drawings up here til PX made a little 'hooha' about it when she chanced upon this(e 1st pic) and now I'm just wondering if any of you could also see what she saw, heee...

Mei Mei So Cute!

Renee used to prefer older children as they could play with her and the younger ones tend to snatch stuffs from her, :D. But lately, she seemed to have taken a liking to younger kids and I've been 'attacked' by her rather frequent(lesser now, *phew*) requests for a sibling for a couple of years now.

Recently, she's been telling me about how her classmates not 'allowing' her to sayang their younger sister/cousin at school but although this situation had taken a change for the better recently, she still daren't 'do much', lolz.

One example, just today after school, she told me this on our way to the mall, "mommy, I gave 2 stickers to Hamton's meimei today. Her eyes are soooo cute(giggling away herself) and I almost tell Hamgon if I can have her, heee. I want to squeeze her but I dare not, she's sooo cute".

Artwork(Drawing) Display

I like the way she draws the apples, heee. This is her version, I've taught her the common style which we normally would draw, which starts from a 'heart shape'?... But I find this better, :). I asked her what happened to the style I've shown her last time and she said "ok, last one I'll draw heart shape apple", hahaha

Good Friday Long Weekend

I've forgotten about this Good Friday holiday until I tried to book an appointment with the PD's clinic for that day, to remove Renee's stitches. With that day being unavailable, I tried the following day, which was however, not allowed as it's the day after a public holiday, huh, what kinda policy is that?

Friday

Hubby had came home(at 4am!) with a lucky draw(from e dinner) winning of S$600 Takashimaya shopping vouchers and though he'd wanted to share it with the clients whom had invited him to the tournament, they had declined and so, he thought it would be polite to use them to buy them each a golf tee - which I also felt it's right/fair, :). And since he wouldn't need all of the vouchers, he sent us to Orchard road for our little shopping escapade, hahaha but guess where he'd gone to himself? - Back to the Casino! Geez, he had made a little winnings when he was there last week but he'd returned abit back to them yesterday. I've cautioned him about being addictive but he said he's merely going back there today as the entry pass' still valid til 10pm, well... Anyway, when he finally came to meet us at Swensons @Ion Orchard, he claimed to have just break-even(no loss, no wins for the day) which I hope was true, :).

Enjoying her pre-dinner snack, :)

First it's hands shaking, then it's 'candy time'! :D

Met her cousin Yu and managed to take this pic with her :)

Her dinner

Saturday

Although most of us had gone to bed late last night(esp me, at 2:30am), we still woke up early as we'd been told by the PD's clinic that for walk-ins, we'd need to be there before 10am to register. We've reached the clinic at around 9:30am but as we're expected to wait for 5-6 hours, we decided to just proceed to the GP's after we've gone for our breakfast and got our stuffs from Daiso. It's a good thing that our preferred doctor's on duty at that hour.

Renee didn't allow the doctor to remove the stitches but after we've assured her that it would be more ticklish than of pain, she relaxed. It seemed like the wound hadn't heal as fast(the wound bled a little when the doc tried to clean the scap off) and the doc advised us to just put on the plaster when going to school but remove it at all times when at home(we had continued with the plaster when she goes to bed 'cos she feared of touching it by accident whilst sleeping).

*luckily we've gone back to the GP's 'cos then we had the chance to get another copy of the doc's referral letter which the KKH's doc had misplaced - see!

We had quite forgotten about our que at the PD's and they called me when we were picking Renee up from her art class. Geez, if we've not changed our mind, it would have indeed been a 5-6 hours wait! They really should change their inflexible system to allowing people to fix appointment via the telephone(esp. for those whom are already on their records) rather than insisting that we go down to register for nothing and waste everyone's time.

Sunday

Today, after hubby's came back from his golf game and had taken his nap, we headed back to Takashimaya again and finally bought the backpack which Renee had her eye on, on Friday, :). The value of money is really getting smaller and smaller - we've only got hold of a few household items(inexpensive ones) and we've already used up close to half the vouchers...